There's something funny about many religious institutions: you can't ask rational questions about the worldview or mission, you can't dissent and you definitely can't suggest that when it comes to the ephemeral mysteries of life, it is hubris to think we can know for sure. To do so is to be labeled an outsider and have your spiritual well-being called into question. Luckily, when it comes ...

A lot of people are surprised to hear that in addition to journalism and music, I also majored in Philosophy in college. I declared the major, along with my Journalism major, very early on my freshman year, first semester and never went back. I learned, or realized I suppose, that in order for me to stay intellectually engaged throughout college it was necessary that I ...

With the pivotal Indiana primary just over a week away and Barack Obama slipping in the polls against Hillary Clinton's hard-nosed assault, it's essential for Obama to connect with uneducated and/or conservative white voters if he wants to avoid a late stage flare-out. So why won't his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, ...

Conventional wisdom is that Democrats can't connect with people of faith. Does the CNN Compassion Forum prove that wrong? In a word: maybe. For those of you not familiar with the Compassion Forum, it works something like this: each candidate (in the case of the latest edition, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama) gets about 20 minutes to talk with a journalist and a minister about issues of ...